Moreland Commission to go down in a blaze of referrals

ALBANY—It could disband in a matter of days, but the anti-corruption commission convened—and ultimately, killed—by Governor Andrew Cuomo will still be sending the results of its investigations off for prosecution.

Onondaga County district attorney Bill Fitzpatrick told Capital that while the Moreland Commission's outstanding subpoenas about lawmakers' outside income—which are under legal challenge—will be nullified, the commission has evidence that it will be forwarding along to various prosecutors.

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“These cases are not cases that I'm going to say, 'I'm going to indict someone tomorrow.' Work needs to be done by professional prosecutors,” said Fitzpatrick, a Republican and one of Moreland's co-chairs. “Not only have we uncovered criminality, but we have an ethical obligation as attorneys to report. … I have no plans at all to sacrifice myself on some altar of political correctness to avoid doing something unpleasant.”

In bargaining with legislators during the budget, Cuomo agreed to disband the commission in exchange for changes in bribery and immunity laws, the creation of a new class of public corruption crimes and a pilot program for public campaign finance that is limited to the race for state comptroller.

Fitzpatrick said he was OK with that deal, noting that his commission was only brought into existence after legislators refused to act on various Cuomo corruption proposals. Reporters received unsolicited statements from several other commissioners making the same basic point.

He said some investigations related to those funds have already been referred for further action. He did not elaborate on what else might be up the commission's sleeve, but its preliminary report referenced several instances where lawmakers may have inappropriately spent campaign funds.